"We Don't Have Personal Relationship With Ranil: We Chose To Back Him And The UNP To Safeguard Democracy": Bathiudeen

ACMC Leader Rishad Bathiudeen said his party decided to back the UNP and its leader to safeguard democracy and the constitution of the country.

"We do not have any personal passion for the individual, Ranil Wickremesinghe MP. There is no ‘relationships’ between ACMC and the UNP either. We ACMC stand with UNP chiefly to safeguard democracy and to uphold our constitution that has been violated repeatedly-and we join UNP’s call against this violation” said ACMC Leader Rishad Bathiudeen.

“Some media have been wrongly reporting that ACMC is colluding with UNP due to our call to re-appoint Ranil Wickremesinghe as PM. We call Wickremesinghe’s return as PM not because of any personal passion for the individual Wickremesinghe nor due to any ‘relationship’ between ACMC and the UNP but because his removal is a clear violation of the constitution. All Sri Lankans are bound to act according to the Constitution and no one can violate it. The removal of Wickremesinghe MP from PM is a clear violation of the Constitution and this is where we say it is wrong. President’s sacking of the previous Cabinet too was illegal. Also President said that even if all 225 MPs say they want the deposed PM Wickremesinghe back, he would not allow it-which statement too was in violation of the constitution. We oppose all these anti-constitutional acts and statements by President of the country” he added.

“We are against illegal appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa MP as Prime Minister. President Maithripala Sirisena has used a power he does not have as President, in making this appointment. It’s a severe violation of the Constitution. We will never support this constitutional violation or any other violations. The violation could be by the President, Prime Minister or even anyone else –we oppose the violation of Sri Lanka’s constitution by anyone-which is anti-democratic” ACMC Leader added.